Annotated Bibliography:
Johnson, Nancy J. "Children's Books: Interacting with the Curriculum." The Reading Teacher , Vol. 55, No. 2 55.2 (n.d.): n. pag. JSTOR. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.
- Has some great things to say about how to connect text directly with a curriculum.
Gilbert, Miriam. "Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance." Shakespeare Quarterly 35.5 (1984): 601-08. JSTOR. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.
- Awesome article. This really hits the nail on the head as far as how performance related activites are beneficial to adolescents understanding Shakespeare's plays.
- Gives insights about their "Pocket" productions of Shakespeare; which are shortened, aimed toward young audiences and are generally successful.
- Gives a Bio about Teresa love, a BYU professor and expert in children's theater.
Interviews;
(Teresa Love, Mackenzie Larsen, Jon Valdez, Nick Chesterfield, Megan Sanborn Jones) Here are a few: the others are still being conducted. Facebook Actors Questions:
I'd love to ask a couple of questions, if you have the time:
-What were the main points/themes that you were trying to help the children understand/grasp?
-What was the most important thing that the kids took away? (plot? familiarity with Shakespearean language? Themes?)
-What specific strategies did you implement to achieve these goals?
-How did they work?
-How did they not work?
-Overall, do you think the show achieved your goals? Why or why not?
-What was the most important thing that the kids took away? (plot? familiarity with Shakespearean language? Themes?)
-What specific strategies did you implement to achieve these goals?
-How did they work?
-How did they not work?
-Overall, do you think the show achieved your goals? Why or why not?
-Did you think having a smaller cast and using the changing of clothing to mark different characters helped or hindered? Why?
-Do you think it's possible for children to understand Shakespeare without a performance that is targeted toward them? (aka; would it be more beneficial for a child just to see the full on real version)
-Do you think it's possible for children to understand Shakespeare without a performance that is targeted toward them? (aka; would it be more beneficial for a child just to see the full on real version)
-After talking to Mackenzie, she mentioned one of the main things kids didn't get was the Bardolph execution scene (she mentioned a lot of them just giggled when you were dragged off stage). Do you agree? If so, how do you think the message of these scene could have been portrayed better?
-What do you think the modern music and dance added to the viewing experience?
Answers;
Answers;
- Conversation started March 17
- March 17
- Wednesday
- Wednesday
Questions for educators:
The main questions I have for you aren't specifically geared towards Shakespeare but more towards Theater as an educational tool in general. However, I do have the Young Company's production of Henry V in mind, since that is the play I am focusing on in my research paper.
Here are my main questions:
-What are the main benefits of Theater as an educational tool for elementary age students?
-What specific strategies should performances use to engage and teach a child? (both in scripting and staging)
-How should a production go about teaching more intensely thematic ideas? (death, war, duty, etc. That would be found in Henry V)
-In your opinion, since there is already a baseline level of misunderstanding with Shakespeare and kids: Do you think it would be more beneficial for a child to see a child targeted production or the original production? Why?
-Did you see the Young Company's performance of Henry V? What was your reaction? What worked? What didn't?
-If you were directing a child targeted performance of a Shakespeare play, what would you do to simplify the language without sacrificing the authenticity of the original work?
From Teresa Love; Her answers in BLUE!
-What are the main benefits of Theater as an educational tool for elementary age students? The art form of theatre grows out of children’s play and storytelling. Both of these are very close to a person in the childhood years and so children are very open to theatre. Theatre artists who stage work designed for a child audience take into account the fact that children have less experience in the world than adults and so use theatrical language to serve this particular audience. Because children are intellectually and socially open, with fewer prejudices and set social norms than grownups, they are rich and fertile ground for new (to them) ideas and systems. Theatre is the ulimate integrated art, with its amalgam of music, visuals, movement and spoken text, so children get a deeply layered arts experience. They are able to not only view, but partipate and respond because theatre is and in-the-moment interactive experience. If education’s ultimate goal is to help children learn to productively navigate the world, theatre is an effective teacher offering new ideas and systems, asking questions, and listening to responses.
-What specific strategies should performances use to engage and teach a child? (both in scripting and staging)
This goes to the targeted age of the intended audience, and takes into consideration the social background and experience of that audience. Theatre artists who produce, write, perform and design for children are also students of developmental ages and stages. If one wants the play to work for four year olds, you need to know four year olds. (They are concerned about their home life, have just begun to realize that they are separate from their parents, that words are delightful and tricky things, that adults acting like children is really funny.) If you are planning the piece to speak to sixth graders you better know how sixth graders learn and what they are interested in (peers are becoming very important, they have learned about sarcasm, they are discovering popular culture and are deciding what it means to them, etc.). And if you want to perform for a multi-age audience, then you need to write the work and construct the performance in such a way that there is lots there for kids of many ages and experiences to understand. In fact, they may see a different story at the same performance. Children, teens and adults all have different experiences attending, say, The LIon King. But the artists involved with that show have constructed a performance that engages the minds and hearts of all those age groups. It’s a tricky deal. But not entirely daunting once you realized that there is lots of overlap between the age groups. Just because you are four and love the story of Simba and his Dad, doesn’t mean you won’t be able to enjoy it at age ten or fifteen or as an adult. Laughing at foolish adults can work for many developmental stages across the audience.
And a child may be entranced by the spectacle of a dance number, while the adult sees the underlying meanings designed in the choreography. This is another reason why theatre is such a potent learning experience. Children who are ready for the next level of understanding may perceive it if it’s clearly provided for them in the language of the theatre (text, design, performance). In other words, one eight year old sitting next to another may get that Scar is a “bad guy.” Another eight year old may realize, that Scar tells truths to manipulate Simba, which feed into his own fears about himself. Now we would expect the thirteen year old kid to see that. If the piece is constructed in a sophisticated manner it allows the child in the audience to discover at his own rate the many messages the work holds.
And a child may be entranced by the spectacle of a dance number, while the adult sees the underlying meanings designed in the choreography. This is another reason why theatre is such a potent learning experience. Children who are ready for the next level of understanding may perceive it if it’s clearly provided for them in the language of the theatre (text, design, performance). In other words, one eight year old sitting next to another may get that Scar is a “bad guy.” Another eight year old may realize, that Scar tells truths to manipulate Simba, which feed into his own fears about himself. Now we would expect the thirteen year old kid to see that. If the piece is constructed in a sophisticated manner it allows the child in the audience to discover at his own rate the many messages the work holds.
Unsophisticated theatre for children always contains, for example, a race through the audience because the practitioners have seen that kids respond to the excitement of that theatrical trick. And the kid’s will respond, no doubt. But it’s kind of like “junk food” staging. But if the race through the audience makes sense for the characters and the story and is used to help the kids understand something new, well then the children will just be transported! They won’t be able to stop talking about the whole production, not just that one “funny part."
-How should a production go about teaching more intensely thematic ideas? (death, war, duty, etc. That would be found in Henry V)
Carefully. Responsibly. Artfully. And never take the place of a parent. But that’s what’s great about theatre. If something is staged well, then the layers of understanding will be unwrapped for a child by him or herself. I once directed To Kill a Mockingbird designed for middle school audiences. The very first performance I was told that there were going to be 3rd graders in the audience. AWWWK! But we had talked about being prepared for elementary audiences. I changed the language of “raped” to “take advantage of” and “nigger” to ”colored.” The actors played the scenes the same way, and those euphemisms served well. At the very least the youngest/least experienced knew that the girl had been treated improperly in some serious way. And for those who had more knowledge (either life or book learning) well, they could construct their own meaning.
I am more concerned with children being taught about intense thematic ideas improperly, meaning thoughtlessly and primarily for financial gain, though video games and movies. Kids see way too much on screens in their own homes. Dealing with life and death issues in a carefully designed theatre experience is much less troubling for me.
-In your opinion, since there is already a baseline level of misunderstanding with Shakespeare and kids: Do you think it would be more beneficial for a child to see a child targeted production or the original production? Why? Depends on ages and stages, again, as well as the personality of the child. Much of Shakespeare is bawdy and gruesome. Why would you take a little kid to see that if the targeted audience is for grownups? However, carefully chosen productions of the ”originals” (there’s really no such thing, you know) can be great. I took my Lego and Star Wars loving eight year old to see Utah Shakes' A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream, and he loved it. Took him to A Comedy of Errors, and when he was six and he loved it. But I wouldn’t take him to see Coriolanus. (I introduced him the the Marx Brothers and Abbot and Costello. But I don’t let him watch every Disney channel comedy that is broadcast. He doesn’t get to watch The Hobbit, but I let him read the graphic novel.)
We were invited to the last dress rehearsal of Henry 5. I asked my son, now 9, if he liked it and he said he did. I asked him what the story was and he said something like “Henry went to war against France and he won.” Well, that’s pretty much it. I asked him regarding the parts of Henry standing up against her friends, and the part about the traitors, and I could tell he had understood what was happening. I didn’t ask him much more..I’m sure he gets tired of my grilling him after every performance we attend together. But we recently went to a quite good production of Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type by a professional company here in SLC. I asked him which her preferred and he chose Henry 5. Please understand, that while he goes to more theatre than most kids, he’s a real regular kid.
-Did you see the Young Company's performance of Henry V? What was your reaction? What worked? What didn't?
Dress rehearsal, and not in the Nelke. I also haven’t seen the show in the schools, which is another animal altogether.
So take my comments under consideration of those facts.
I thought the actors were fearless in their confidence that they had a good story to tell. I think visually the relationships were made clear as well as most of the conflicts. I thought the costumes served well. I thought the actors had very high regard for the child audience. It can take years to understand the in and outs of audience participation and I think they had a good shot at making that work. I thought the battle scenes were well conceived and performed. I can’t comment on the way it was staged in the Nelke because the school tour had a very different seating arrangement,and that’s the arrangement I saw. There are always student actor problems but I could see they were on the track to solving some of those. I thought it was an exciting production, well worth it for children and their grownups to see.
-If you were directing a child targeted performance of a Shakespeare play, what would you do to simplify the language without sacrificing the authenticity of the original work?
I’m currently working on adapting Cymbeline which I will also direct for elementary age children, and have adapted The Taming of the Shrew and The Merchant of Venice for that age group. So I am writing as both adapter and director.
The text really can’t be separated from the performance of it. The performers and designers need to use all their powers of communication to help the audience know what the heck is going on. I treat it as a foreign language for the audience. ("If you were speaking in Spanish to a Japanese audience I still want to be able to tell who you are how you feel about other characters and what’s going on!”) So, all the visuals and movements must illustrate the meanings...but without treating the kids like they are clueless. Because they aren’t! They have more dendrites connecting in their brains than grownups do. There are some times when I leave the “music” of the language in just because it’s beautiful and it needs to be heard. But mostly I don’t “indulge” Mr. Shakespeare much, and
I cut ruthlessly. I try to keep rhythm, but I’m not above substituting words for clarity. He designed them to be performed for an audience, so...! (But I wouldn’t take such liberties with his sonnets.) I also usually cut secondary storylines, though this is mostly for time. And I sometimes use symbols they understand in their culture as substitutes. For example, I used Gamer Geek, Metro-Sexual and Country HIck as Portia’s suitors in M of V as opposed to the cultural icons of Shakespeares’ day.
I cut ruthlessly. I try to keep rhythm, but I’m not above substituting words for clarity. He designed them to be performed for an audience, so...! (But I wouldn’t take such liberties with his sonnets.) I also usually cut secondary storylines, though this is mostly for time. And I sometimes use symbols they understand in their culture as substitutes. For example, I used Gamer Geek, Metro-Sexual and Country HIck as Portia’s suitors in M of V as opposed to the cultural icons of Shakespeares’ day.
Teaching Shakespeare in School Articles that look promising/helpful. I need to read through 'em.
- http://playsandmusicalsnewsletter.pioneerdrama.com/public/blog/105415
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2007/feb/06/schools.news
- http://www.childdrama.com/
- http://www.webenglishteacher.com/henryv.html
- http://folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=584
Wonderful interviews! Good for you for getting such reliable sources. How much of this fits into your planned arguments for your paper, or were you waiting for their comments before you planned your specific points?
ReplyDeleteSo much of it is applicable actually. It helped to asked the right questions, but I didn't expect such open-ness and thorough answers. It was really a gamble. I hoped that they would back up my argument--but also as I learned more my thesis became a little more directed based on the things they said.
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